Assigment 3 Part 2

Name

Instructors’ Name

Course Title and Cod

Date

The Cold War: Guatemala

Question 1:

CIA declassified the sixty years old documents related to the Guatemala cold war during the year 1997. The cold war was fought in the earlier years of the 1950s. The purpose of the cold war was to get rid of the president of Guatemala who was believed to be a communist. The declassified documents of the CIA revealed the planning of the operation to carry out the operation with the support of the Guatemalan army, which also planned to kill almost fifty-eight supporters of the president. The documents were declassified under the Freedom of Information Act, that the public has the right to know about the matters which are not classified anymore (Weiner).

Question 2:

The cold war policy of the United States of America during the post second world war ear was containment. The forces of the United States of America, as well as the CIA, tried to restrict the popularity of communism in the region. The cold war of Guatemala was also for the sake of stopping the communist rule in the region. The country wanted to keep the Soviet and communist support out of the western hemisphere (Weiner).

Question 3:

The involvement of the United States of America in Guatemala was based on manipulating the political stance of the public and their views about the ruling force of the country. The CIA led the operation and motivated the army of Guatemala to carry on the operation of assassinating the then president of Guatemala, named Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, who was believed to be a communist supporter. The United States of America feared that Guatemala would ultimately become a communist state, leading to the popularity of communism in the western hemisphere. The involvement of the United States of America was not justified because it did not have any right to manipulate the internal affairs of any country (Bergin).

Question 4:

During the cold war of Guatemala, the CIA planned to assassinate at least fifty-eight Guatemalans because there were the close allies of the then president of Guatemala, who was believed to be the supporter of communism. CIA had planned the assassination of the president and feared that his mission of spreading communism in the region would be forwarded by his allies. The killing of the fifty-eight Guatemalans was planned to ensure that communism does not grow in the country and the region (Weiner).Question 5:

The main purpose of the forces and government of the United States of America towards lending support to the Guatemalan military over its democratically elected government was to ensure that communism is not supported in the region. The United States of America was not in favor of the communist rule and did not want the other countries in the region to support it. So it started an operation against the democratically elected government of Guatemala. CIA manipulated the military of the government regarding the aims and plains of the president and provided the support to lead his assassination. The forces of the United States of America also provided support to establish a new democratic rule in Guatemala (Bergin).

Question 6:

The thing which strikes me the most about the trial of former General Rios Montt is that he had not enacted the whole operation according to his will and power. He was the most prominent figure during the Guatemala cold war and became the president of the country after that. He was not the only assailant in the actions which were inhumane, violent and oppressive. However, he was the only one who got punished (Malkin).

Question 7:

The thing which strikes me that U.S. officials were not part of the trial is that they only offered an apology for ruining the political structure of a country, as well as taking the life of a number of human beings (Malkin).

Works Cited

Bergin, Eleanor Reid. "The CIA And Regime Change: Lessons From The Cold War." (2015).

Malkin, Elisabeth. "Trial on Guatemalan Civil War Carnage Leaves Out US Role." New York Times, May 16 (2013): 2013.

Weiner, Tim. "CIA in 1950's Drew Up List of Guatemalan Leaders to Be Assassinated." New York Times, May 28 (1997): 1997.